Vernon Macklin | Forward | #35

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The Pelicans waived Vernon Macklin on Thursday.

Macklin was the 52nd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons and was invited to the New Orleans training camp on a non-guaranteed deal. Macklin has been playing in Europe over the past few season and will likely head back overseas if he can not latch on to another NBA team. Thu, Oct 9, 2014 06:38:00 PM

Vernon Macklin agreed on a non-guaranteed deal with the Pelicans over the weekend.

The former Piston played in Turkey last year and will try to join the Pelicans. New Orleans doesn't have too much frontcourt depth, but it's still going to be a tall order for Macklin to make the team. Mon, Sep 8, 2014 10:20:00 AM

Vernon Macklin will sign with Gaziantep of Turkey, according to his agent Greg Nunn.

Macklin played just 5.9 minutes per night and it took him until late April to see double-digit minutes in a game last year. The Florida Gator will obviously get more playing time in Turkey and perhaps he can work his way back into the NBA. Sun, Aug 19, 2012 04:42:00 PM

Macklin also has two offers from Greece and Turkey as well, but it sounds like he'll try to stay in the NBA. Macklin is an unrestricted free agent after the Pistons chose not to extend a qualifying contract offer, but the 2011 second-round draft pick torched the D-League last season with averages of 16.6 points and 17.2 rebounds. He should be able to find work as frontline depth somewhere, but he may find a more lucrative contract overseas. Tue, Aug 7, 2012 10:14:00 AM

Depth Charts

Tim Frazier will likely start at point guard once again, and is a very intriguing DFS option. In the 22 games he has started this season, Frazier is averaging 10.8 points, 7.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds. Langston Galloway and Buddy Hield should also see additional playing time.

Thus, there will be plenty of playing time up for grabs in the Pels backcourt. Tim Frazier will likely start at the point. Buddy Hield has started at shooting guard in each of the last two games, but it has been Langston Galloway that has been the more reliable fantasy player. Galloway is averaging 22.5 points and 4.5 treys over the Pels last two contests.

Tyreke Evans (knee, calf) will not play against the Clippers on Saturday.

He is expected to miss at least one more game on top of that. The Pelicans are going nowhere fast and have only a four percent chance to make the playoffs, per FiveThirtyEight.com. Evans will have a restriction on him for a long time, so stashing him is going to require a lot of patience.

Quincy Pondexter (knee surgeries) is still not close to getting back on the court.

"Quincy’s probably going to take a little bit longer than [Tyreke Evans to return]," Pelicans' GM Dell Demps said. "We’ll get a better determination on Quincy probably in about two weeks." With Evans' looking at a potential December return, it sounds like Pondexter might not get back to the court until sometime in January. He doesn't offer enough upside to warrant a hold in any setting.

Dante Cunningham (knee) has been diagnosed with a non-displaced right proximal fibula fracture and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

The Pelicans said he wasn't expected to miss much time, but they didn't know Cunningham suffered a fracture from banging knees on Wednesday. Cunningham's playing time as a starter was trending up with around 30 minutes per game recently -- he does only have a 12.0 usage rate this year. While he was out on Wednesday, Solomon Hill started the second half and is likely to be starting going forward. They also used a lot of three-guard lineups with Jrue Holiday, Tim Frazier and Langston Galloway. Frazier should be owned in standard leagues, Galloway is a short-term pickup for 14-team leagues and Hill is worth a look for owners with something to cut in deeper leagues.